Weekly Margin 2024, W8: The Moonshot Tape & A Poster of the Cosmos, Jelly's Last Jam

2/23/24: The Moonshot Tape & A Poster of the Cosmos

What: For one week only, Deep Flight Products presents two monologue one acts by Lanford Wilson.

And? full review here

2/24/24: Jelly's Last Jam

What: NY City Center Encores! series presents George C. Wolfe and Susan Birkenhead's biomusical about Jelly Roll Morton (a man who claims to have invented Jazz but is at least responsible for helping to annotate it).

And? I like its unusual framing, so it doesn't feel like a cookie cutter story: a retrospective look back at his life now that he's passed on, as hosted by the Chimney Man, where Jelly himself is revealed to be an unreliable narrator. The musical numbers are fun, especially the dance sequences, and it's such a remarkable coup to have the three women who originated the Greek chorus of the Hunnies--Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams--return to reprise their roles. While I don't think the show will stick to my ribs, I'm still glad I saw it.

Allison M. Williams, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Mamie Duncan-Gibbs
as the Hunnies. Photo by Joan Marcus.